It didn't seem possible for the Department of Veterans Affairs to become any more embattled than it already was following the demotion of two department administrators in November, but the VA's recent decision not to attempt a recovery of the nearly $400,000 in relocation expenses paid out to the administrators may have done just that. However, new legislation proposed by Rep. Jeff Miller, the chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, would allow the VA to recoup any payments regarded as illegal or improper.
Miller's proposal would apply to not only the reallocation funds dolled out to Diana Rubens in Philadelphia and Kimberly Graves in St. Paul, Minnesota – the two VA officials removed from their posts – but also to any future incident. The Military Times reported that an internal investigation conducted by the VA found that both Rubens and Graves leveraged their power to receive thousands of dollars in moving fees and to receive undue promotions.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Rubens would be forced to repay the $274,000 the federal government spent relocating her to Delaware County from Washington, D.C. last year. It was alleged that Rubens desired the move because the position offered the same pay but fewer responsibilities. She has since been reassigned to the VA's office in Houston. Graves, meanwhile, will have to return about $130,000.
The VA sent Rep. Miller a letter last month stating that they couldn't pursue reimbursement due to legal reasons. Miller decided that wasn't good enough. "If, as VA officials have claimed, the department truly lacks the legal authority to recoup the money Rubens and Graves benefited from as part of their scheme, we aim to fix that with this bill," said Miller in a statement.
It isn't yet clear whether or not the proposed legislation can become law. A related measure was passed in 2014, simplifying the process for firing senior VA executives who have failed to support veterans in their life after service, but Miller's bill still faces a long road ahead.
Maybe more than ever before, the annual Veterans Food Drive is proving to former servicemembers just how much people care. Archie Callahan, a veteran of three Middle East deployments, told the Chicago Tribune that the generosity shown him and his family by the food drive "feels like a great big hug."
Callahan, and each of the other 1,200 veterans who showed up at the Bridgeview Sports Dome on Saturday, was given a 20-pound turkey and seven bags of food that, when arranged in the correct order, spelled out "thanks." More than 250 volunteers were at work organizing thousands of boxes of food for the big day. Veterans only had to show their current military ID or discharge papers in addition to some proof of their Illinois residency.
The food drive was so popular that some veterans faced long lines. Mary Jarvis Anderson, an Army veteran who served in Fallujah, Iraq, told the Tribune that she and her father, a World War II veteran, were happy to spend more than an hour in traffic outside the sports facility because the care packages were worth the wait.
"I was unemployed but I just started a new job and this is so going to really help," said Anderson. "This is beyond nice that they are doing this. It means so much that people think of us and want to help."
Last year the food drive fed 800 people. An advance online registration targeted a higher goal of 1,000 for this year, but so many donations came in from around the state that walk-in veterans were able to receive bags of food as well.
Similar Thanksgiving food drives are happening all around the country. In Jacksonville, Florida, where about 1 in 6 people does not reliably have access to food, the Clara White Mission announced a huge food drive specifically for veterans. With the holiday season approaching, charitable donations are more frequent and veterans will find many organizations supporting them.
Photographers across the country are putting their art to use as a unique means for honoring veterans. On Veterans Day, Trish Logan photographed 50 veterans as they left a Veterans Day program. She offered them both individual portraits and group photographs with their families. All photographs were free of charge, the Oxford Hills Sun Journal reported.
"They all have great stories," Logan told the Journal. Her project to commemorate veterans is part of a wider effort to give back to her Maine community, called the Logan Legacy Project, which offers donations to local high schools, college scholarships and opportunities for students to learn about photography.
Logan's veteran project began in 2010, when the Wreaths Across America initiative stopped by the Maine Veterans' Home. Seeing the veterans' faces as they watched the procession go by in the cold wind outside left an indelible impact on her.
Speaking with local students opened Logan's eyes to how little they knew about certain moments in history, particularly the experiences World War II veterans. "It's a generation," Logan told the paper, "that's vanishing." To correct that, she's taking their photographs with the aim of recording the stories of every veteran in her Oxford Hills community within the next few years.
In New York, Stacy Pearsall, a former Air Force combat photographer who served two tours in Iraq, is addressing old wounds with new photographs in her life after service. Pearsall's military career ended abruptly when she was wounded by an IED blast.
"When I got wounded, I spent a lot of time in the hospital. I was looking around at other veterans. They really inspired me to want to do portraits," Pearsall told CNY Central.
After getting healthy, Pearsall founded the Veteran's Portrait Project. She has already taken 3,000 portraits of veterans nationwide.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a substantial overhaul of its current health care system on Wednesday. In a new plan, the VA will expand the department's nationwide medical services in a way that would allow veterans improved access to private care. Stars and Stripes reported that the VA asked for $421 million from Congress to begin merging government and private sector systems as a means for reducing the limitations veterans have faced for years.
Lawmakers enacted legislation to increase veteran eligibility to private care in 2014 with the Veterans Choice program. The $10 billion program affected about 1 million veterans, allowing them to use their military benefits at non-VA facilities. Based on figures stated by the VA, the ambitious new designs revealed this week will cost between $400 million and $800 million per year after the $1.2 billion to $2.4 billion needed for each of the first three years. They cautioned that those costs would rise if more veterans switched to the integrated system.
The new program could prove very popular. Any veteran living too far from a VA hospital, or who can't see a VA physician within 30 days, will now be able to visit a private doctor. Additionally, the VA hopes to institute a single set of rules to simplify a system that has been notoriously complicated. According to The Washington Post, department officials hope that improved methods of reimbursement and billing will draw talented medical practitioners back after its old systems proved unappealing.
Rep. Jeff Miller, the House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman, said that the "VA has always had fee-for-service but it wasn't used in the way the veterans expected it to be used. What we are trying to do is not tear down VA brick-by-brick but supplement it."
Before the overhaul can go into effect, Congressional approval is required.
Transitioning to the civilian world in their life after service isn't always easy, but veterans are finding that the tech industry is eager to employ programmers and technicians with the kind of skill sets they perfected while in the military. According to CIO, a website for Chief Information Officers and other IT professionals, a few major organizations have seen great recent success in helping put IT employers in touch with veterans.
Hiring Our Heroes, an initiative that began in March 2011 with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is a nationwide effort dedicated to helping veterans and military families find stable employment. In four and a half years, the program has held more than 900 jobs fairs nationwide and assisted more than 27,000 veterans and their spouses in securing jobs. One of HoH's many IT partners is Microsoft. The company conducted training events and workshops for thousands of veterans earlier this year to help them refine their networking chops and better present their field-related experience.
Kim Morten, Hiring Our Heroes' senior manager of communications, told CIO that "Many times the media will portray returning veterans as 'broken heroes,' but that's not entirely true. They don't want pity, nor do they want to be put on a pedestal. They want the chance to get a good job, doing good work and show what they're worth."
Another program that has seen great results is V.E.T.S (Vocation, Education and Training for Service members). V.E.T.S began in 2012 as a means for addressing the dearth of high-level talent in the IT field and veterans' high unemployment rate. A study conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs found that, even now, about half of post-9/11 veterans can expect to face a period of unemployment as they transition to the civilian workforce. The V.E.T.S initiative hopes to change that. It has already trained and placed more than 100 veterans in IT jobs, and hopes to expand to 500 or 600 in the near future.
Starting a business is a great accomplishment for anyone. For veterans, especially, these entrepreneurial pursuits can be an excellent way to get the most out of life after service. Owning a business really helps you integrate into the community and gives you a healthy sense of self-worth. AFBA has listed some useful resources for veteran business owners.
VetBiz
Established by the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, VetBiz helps former servicemembers get their businesses verified for eligibility to participate in the Veterans First Contracting Program. It provides counseling, self-assessment tools and training webinars.
Boots to Business
The U.S. Small Business Administration partnered with the Department of Defense's Transition Assistance Program to create this two-step program to help train veterans to run their own businesses. In this program, former servicemembers will learn the basics of entrepreneurship, such how to develop a business plan and organize business methods.
Veteran Entrepreneur Portal
This website was designed to make running a business easy for veterans. Here, former servicemembers will have access to training materials, financial guidance tools and business expansion tips. The Veteran Entrepreneur Portal also provides links to government sponsored funding for small businesses.
National Veteran-Owned Business Association
Veterans who are interested in federal contracting opportunities would find this resource most useful. This organization's main goal is to work with the government to encourage partnership between Federal projects and veteran-owned businesses. Former servicemembers who own their own business can read up on the latest policies and find tools to make a more efficient government contract.
Victory Spark
Veterans who have created their own start-ups should look into Victory Spark. This program allows participants to interact with business mentors in a 12-week learning course and offers the opportunity for grant funding. The Global Entrepreneurship Collective runs this veteran-targeted training program.
21 Gun Salute Initiative
Former servicemembers who were injured or disabled in their time with the military and are interested in starting their own business should look into this program. The group serves as advocates for disabled business owners and works to ensure that the government meets its 3 percent requirement in contracting with disabled veteran-run businesses.
Owning a business is something to be proud of, and veterans have the skills, training and leadership that would make them excellent small-business owners. By utilizing the resources available to them, former servicemembers have the potential to lead the small business arena and establish successful operations. To see a complete list of veteran entrepreneurial resources, click here.
Though there are nearly 70,000 homeless veterans in the United States, the commonwealth of Virginia became the first to reach "functional zero," as reported by WTVR 6 News. This means that every homeless former servicemember in Virginia has been housed or offered housing.
"On a day when we remember those who fought and died for our nation, I am proud to proclaim that Virginia is leading the way in the fight to end veteran homelessness," Governor McAuliffe said in his Veterans Day announcement speech. "This successful effort will serve as the launching pad for our next goal of functionally ending chronic homelessness among all Virginians by the end of 2017."
Virginia was able to put an end to the homelessness issue by incorporating ideas from the Housing First program. According to the Fairfax County government website, the programs places homeless veterans immediately into permanent housing and provides transitional support. The organization believes that by skipping the instability of shelters, veterans are more likely to get back on their feet.
Utah, New York and Louisiana are all following in Virginia's footsteps to make a greater effort to find homes for all their region's homeless veterans.
According to the California Department of Veteran Affairs, 1 in 4 homeless veterans in the United States reside in the state. That means that there are nearly 16,000 homeless former servicemembers in California. Though the state is one of the most active in trying to lower the number of homeless veterans, there are still many left without permanent homes.
Max Zahir, a Redlands, California native, passed many of these veterans on his way home from work everyday. Zahir finally decided to make a difference for one of the veterans.
According to Inside Edition, Zahir approached a homeless veteran outside a local gas station and asked if he could buy him lunch. The two shared a fast food meal, but Zahir's kind deed was not complete.
"I go to work every day around 4:00 p.m., and if you meet me at that gas station I'm going to buy you lunch," Max said to the veteran in the video.
In the video taken by Zahir, the homeless veteran breaks down in tears at the offer. The former servicemember goes on to thank Zahir and tell him that he has not been treated so kindly in a long time.
Inside Edition reported that the meal the two shared was the veteran's first in over a day.
Newman's Own Foundation announced on Thursday that it would award $1.5 million in grants to organizations that support military servicemembers, veterans and their families. In a press release, the philanthropic nonprofit, formed in 2005 by the late actor Paul Newman – who was himself a World War II veteran – described the donation as a celebration of its 10th anniversary.
Twenty-nine organizations will receive money to fund the work they do in assisting veterans with physical and mental rehabilitation, housing, education and career development. "Our men and women in uniform make great sacrifices in their own lives to protect the unique freedom, privileges, and opportunities we enjoy as Americans. It is not so much a responsibility to support them, but more a privilege to express our gratitude for their service," said Robert Forrester, the president and CEO of the foundation, in a statement.
Cathy Cook of Work Vessels for Veterans, one of the organizations receiving grant money, told the Military Times that the $30,000 they were awarded would go a long way toward providing veterans with the type of vehicle or equipment they needed to pursue civilian careers or higher-level educations. Cook said that the group's 20 pending requests for pickup trucks could now begin to be filled.
In an unprecedented move, the Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced a new plan to improve veterans care services. The program, which will be called the New Veterans Choice Program, will combine all private sectors of the current health network and merge it into one large program, according to RT America.
"We want an integrated network," VA Secretary Robert McDonald told The Washington Post. "We want the very best providers connected with us. This is a big deal, and it will be a big improvement over what we have now."
The department hopes that by combing the sectors, they can eliminate the gaps in the veterans' health systems. It also plans to expand its services to be able to accommodate the growing number of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, as reported by The Washington Post.
The new plan will allow veterans who do not live close to VA hospitals or who have been waiting more than 30 days for an appointment to visit private doctors in their area.
The Department of Veterans Affairs proposed the new plan on Nov. 18, and it is expected to go into discussions toward the end of the month or in December.